


The Reception

by dreamalittledreamofme



Series: Fair Game Week 2020 [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Fair Game Week (RWBY), Family, Fluff, M/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-23 00:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23202934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamalittledreamofme/pseuds/dreamalittledreamofme
Summary: Qrow and Clover's wedding reception! In which Qrow realizes he does have a family.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: Fair Game Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666867
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	The Reception

The music is already blasting by the time Qrow and Clover get out of the house. The night surrounds Tai’s backyard, the only light coming from the broken moon and the warm fairy lights set up around the yard. Tables line all-around a small dance floor. A buffet of food to the right of the yard and a two-tier cake in the middle of the buffet. Qrow’s surprised the cake is still untouched, but seeing how Nora keeps eyeing it up, he doesn’t expect it to last long. 

He didn’t really care about the cake anyway, the man next to him was sweet enough.

Speaking of, a hand wraps around his waist, he feels Clover whisper in his ear.

“How long until the party turns disastrous?” Qrow chuckles. In the corner of his eye, he can see Nora getting closer to the cake but Ren steers her away. She frowns and looks around, until her eyes lock onto her next target, Oscar. She runs at him, pulling him into a big hug as if she didn’t just see him minutes ago at the ceremony.

It’s been years since Oscar first joined their team, and he hasn’t grown much taller. Even if he did, Qrow’s sure Nora could still lift him up and spin him around.

“I’d say two hours tops,” Clover answers himself.

Qrow shakes his head, “You give them too much credit. I’d say something breaks five minutes from now. And in thirty, Nora gets tired of waiting and eats the entire cake. In an hour, tables are flipped over and a dance battle happens. Chaos reigns after that.”

Clover throws his head back, letting out a boisterous laugh. He stares at Qrow fondly, head cocked to the side and a small smile on his lips.

“What?” Qrow asks.

“You look amazing.” Qrow is wearing a black tux, green on the lapels. The tie he wears is green too, but it came off after their fast make out session back in the house. The first couple buttons of his black shirt undone. 

He turns his head, pink fill his cheeks. “Yeah, you don’t look so bad yourself.” Clover went with a white tux and a black button-up. The lapels of his jacket are red, as is the bowtie he wears around his neck.

Clover takes his husband’s face in his hands and kisses him softly.

“Hey lovebirds.” Qrow breaks the kiss and takes a deep breath.

“That wasn’t funny two years ago and it still isn’t.”

He swivels his head toward the voice, seeing Taiyang standing in front of them.

“Always a critic Qrow,” he turns his attention to Clover, “Congratulations!”

A wide smile grows on Clover’s face, he goes to talk but a loud boom gets his attention. They look around the dance floor, which now has a smoking speaker and a suspicious group of teens slowly backing away.

Clover glances at Qrow, who is looking at him with a smug face. He rolls his eyes. Fine, he was right.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t forget, you still owe me a dance.” He kisses his husband’s cheek and jogs to the kids.

Qrow watches him leave with a small grin.

“I’m proud of you, you know?”

The bird looks at him, puzzled. Tai keeps his head toward the stage.

“I mean, I never thought this would be our lives. Your life. When we first started at Beacon, you were a trouble maker, you didn’t care about anything or anyone except yourself and Ra- your sister. I was so sure Summer was going to murder you in those first couple months.”

“She did love to threaten me,” They chuckle.

“Summer always saw the greatness in everyone, even someone like you.” Qrow shoves him gently. Tai takes it laughing. They stand in silence for a bit, watching Clover talk to a guilty-looking Jaune.

“After she...she died, I wasn’t there for them, Ruby and Yang. But you always made sure they were safe. You were there when I couldn’t be. I don’t think I’ve ever said thank you for that.”

Qrow rubs the back of his neck, “Don’t be stupid, you were the one that raised them. I just taught Ruby how to fight.”

Tai turns to him and says, “I thought you had learned to take a compliment,” then softer, “Don’t sell yourself short, they have learned a lot from you.”

They look over to Ruby and Yang, who are now teasing a blushing Jaune. 

“Well, even without us, they turned out to be amazing women.”

“You got that right.”

The silence stretches on. Tai hesitates on speaking.

“I’m sorry, too.”

“What for?”

“I wasn’t there for you either. We were supposed to be a team, but without Summer, we both fell apart. You were at your worst and I did nothing but hurt you more. I’m sorry Qrow.”

Qrow shakes his head. “Both of us were awful. We made so many mistakes. But look where we are now. I-I’m proud to call you a brother.”

“Awww! Look at you being positive! Talking about your emotions! Who are you and what have you done with Qrow?”

“And the moment is ruined.” Tai laughs. 

Qrow glances at Clover, who is standing above the speaker and talking to Marrow. He kicks the speaker and the music starts again. They lock eyes and he shrugs, before making his way back to the pair. He bows, holding his hand out.

“May I have this dance?” Qrow giggles, before placing his hand in the others. He’s pulled to the dance floor, laughing along the way.

“Did you use your semblance to make the speaker work?” The man doesn’t answer, he just gives him a wink.

Clover is in no way a good dancer. Qrow is reminded of a bird mating dance, arms wave around and butt sways to the beat. He tries to hide his laughs in his hand, but the lucky man still notices.

“Oh, you don’t like my dance moves?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t marry you for your dancing.”

Clover gives him a smirk before grabbing his waist and pulling him into a dip. 

Qrow squeals, “CLOVER!” His head almost hits the floor. He gets pulled up, only to get twirled around. By the end, he’s dizzy and is completely pressed up against his husband’s chest. 

“How about that?” Clover’s face is smug.

“Hold on, I think I need to throw up.” His face falls into a pout and Qrow just can’t help himself from kissing it. This man was too cute. “It’s okay, babe. I love your terrible dancing.”

The song ends and another, more energetic one starts. From behind him, Qrow hears a loud yell.

“YANG.”

“RUBY.”

“Oh no.” Qrow shakes his head. He knows this song. It’s one his nieces were obsessed with when they were younger. One that they made him learn the choreography for so he could dance with them.

“UNCLE QROW.” They tackle him. He regrets letting team RWBY make the playlist.

“No.” He looks at Ruby.

“Yes.”

He switches his look to Yang. His resolve is crumbling. “No.”

“Yes!” Her eyes are blazing.

He looks at Clover, desperate, but the man just shrugs. He’s gonna pay for that later.

Qrow sighs, “Fine.”

Ruby squeals and they get into their positions.

Compared to fighting Grimm, the dance is relatively easy. Qrow is surprised to actually remember all of the dance moves. In fact, Ruby, Yang and him are in perfect synchronicity. At least, they were until his semblance hit. 

He doesn’t know how, but they have somehow landed on a pile on the floor. His head rests on Yang’s leg, and he can feel Ruby’s knee digging into his lower back. The music keeps playing in the background.

They can’t stop laughing. Curling in on himself, he can hear Ruby and Yang cackling. It takes a while for them to calm down enough to sit up. Qrow takes a look at the girls he’s known for their entire life. They have grown to be such amazing people. Incredibly headstrong and kind. He can only wish Summer sees how far they’ve come. And it’s small, but he hopes one day Raven will get to see it too.

In an act of surprise, he’s the one that tackles them into a hug. The girls look at each other over his shoulders. Smiling, they return the hug.

“We love you Uncle Qrow.”

“I love you too, kiddos.” They break apart and stand up. “But I don’t think I could survive doing that again.”

The girls look at each other again, smirking as if they have a trick up their sleeve. 

“Just wait until later in the playlist.” They start to walk away.

“Wait-What do you have planned?!” His voice rises. He’s met with silence. Qrow deflates. He’s probably going to be dragged into another dance routine. Brothers know how many he’s learned over the years.

He turns, looking for his husband, to find him standing next to his mom and sister by the food. Clover says something, and his mom goes to pinch his cheeks. Time to save his husband.

“Hello Ms.Ebi,” Qrow has never been the polite one when it came to, well anyone. But with Clover’s mom, he was always on his best behavior, much to her delight. She never believed it when Clover called him a troublemaker.

“I told you a million times to call me Pela.” She goes in for a hug, letting go of Clover’s cheeks. Qrow loved her hugs. She was a warm and soft woman. Her hugs were always comforting. It’s something he wished he had when he was in the tribe. Although he would hate if Pela Ebi got mixed up in tribes, no matter how good of a huntress she was.

“Mom, you’re gonna suffocate him.”

The voice belonged to Clover’s older sister, Cordelia. Qrow and her got along well. They both enjoyed teasing Clover. And pranks. Once, Cordelia put glue traps over the windows, causing Qrow to be stuck in the window in bird form. Qrow had retaliated by putting pictures of Ironwood all over her house. It started an all-out prank war. It helped that they were both experienced spies. 

It ended only after Clover and Qrow had left Atlas and settled down in Patch. 

(Although Qrow sometimes makes the flight to Atlas and it’s not uncommon for Cordelia to just ‘stop by and say hi’)

Needless to say, Clover- who was caught in the crossfire many, many times- tries to keep them apart as much as possible.

“Qrow.” She narrows her eyes at him.

“Cordelia.” He challenges back. They stare for a minute, before breaking into grins.

“How’s my new stepbrother doing?” She attempts to ruffle his hair, but Qrow gets out of the way in time. 

He eyes her, “Fine. As long as you didn’t do anything to the cake.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” She pauses, “but you may never know.” She finishes, cryptic.

“Oh hush you two. And Cordelia if you have done anything to my beautiful cake I will not hesitate to ground you.”

She scoffs, “Mom, I’m 42, I think you lost the right to ground me by now.”

“Oh honey, I never lose that right. Now, can you go stop Nora from eating the cake please?”

They look farther down the booth to see Nora, now over the cake. Ren is nowhere to be found.

As Cordelia leaves, Pela turns to them.

“Congratulations! I thought it would be forever until my little Clover got married!”

“Mom, please,” Clover says, embarrassed. Qrow intertwines their fingers. 

“Thank you for the cake Ms.Ebi. It’s beautiful.”

“It’s nothing! Especially for my new son!” Qrow blushes. “Looking at the way Nora is inches from the cake, I think it’s time to get that started. Clover, go round up the rest of the party.”

He nods and heads to the dance floor. Qrow steps towards the cake, but is stopped by Pela.

“You know, he’s really happy.”

“He’s a wonderful man. He’s seemed to learn a lot from you.” Qrow agrees.

“Maybe, but I can’t give the credit to myself. His childhood was...very hard. Growing up poor in Mantle is never something a child should go through. And with me taking jobs as a huntress, I was never truly around. He’s strong, smart, and so kind. But he didn’t care about life the way he should have. He never got to have fun like everyone else did because he was so focused on work. Qrow, you showed him that fun. You showed him that there is so much more to being a huntsman than just work. Thank you Qrow. You make my son so happy.”

Qrow has tears in his eyes. He moves to wipe them away and gives Pela another hug.

“He makes me happy too.”

Clover shouts for them over by the cake. Qrow stares at him for a bit. Their lives have changed so much after meeting each other. He never thought he would get something like this. And with someone as beautiful and as loving as Clover Ebi. 

He marches towards the man and gives him an intense kiss. He buries his hand in Clover’s hair, pulling him closer. Hands wrap around his waist as he feels a tongue trace his lips, asking for permission in. Someone, most likely Yang, wolf whistles.

Pela clears her throat from behind them and they separate. Qrow blushes, sheepish, but grabs the knife from her hand. He moves it towards Clover, who grabs the knife as well. They cut into the cake and he hears Nora scream, “Finally!” and a camera goes off.

They put the first small piece on a plate. Qrow uses the knife to cut the top tier in half. He puts it on another plate and hands it to Nora. Nora looks like she’s about to cry. The bird doesn’t know how to react. He just gave her a piece of cake? He knew she would want most of it. Was she that happy about cake?

“Thanks, Dad!” He stops. Dad? Did Nora just call him dad? His eyes widen in shock. Another camera goes off. He tries to talk to Nora, but by the time he looks back, she’s gone.

When Clover gets his attention, he realizes the knife has been taken out of his hand, replaced with a piece of cake.

“Huh, so you’re a dad now. I can’t believe I married a dad. You never told me you had kids.”

Qrow’s face turns full red. Clover starts whispering in his ear.

“But I always knew you were a daddy.” His face flushes even more. He quickly grabs the cake by his hand and smears it all over Clover’s face.

Clover, and the crowd, gasps. He stares at the bird for a minute before doing the same thing.

“Clover!” He laughs. Clover pulls him in by the waist. And starts kissing him all over.

“Sorry, my husband was too mean. I needed to make him sweeter.”

Qrow giggles, trying to stave off Clover’s attack on his face. He fumbles behind him for a napkin. Finding one, he puts it between their faces. Clover pouts.

“WHY ARE YOU WASTING PERFECTLY GOOD CAKE?” Nora shouts, now somewhere in the crowd. 

They clean the rest of their faces with the napkins and get set on cutting the rest of the cake, this time with Pela’s help.

Ren is the last one to get a slice, taking it from Qrow. He pauses. 

“Thank you…” Ren starts.

“You’re welco-”

“...Dad.” and Ren vanishes.

Qrow groans. He lays his head on Clover’s shoulder.

“These kids are going to kill me one day.”

Clover encircles his arms around the other man. 

“You love it.”

Qrow grunts, but he hides a smile in his husband’s shoulder. “I do.”

Qrow lifts his head. He sees many people scattered around the yard. Tai talks with Maria by the door to the house. Elm and Cordelia are having an arm-wrestling match with Sun, Neptune, and Nora cheering them on. Ren talks softly to Oscar, sitting down at the tables, both tired out from the party. He sees Pela teaching team RWBY some dance moves, while Marrow and Jaune dance together.

Qrow has never really had a family. At one point, he thought the tribe was, but he soon saw the fault in that. He had Summer and Tai, but they fell apart after a couple of years. Raven, someone he thought would stick with him through it all, betrayed him. The closest thing he had to a family were Ruby and Yang, and he rarely saw them when they were younger.

As Qrow looks at all the people in his life now, he realizes he finally has it. A family. A real one consisting of people he cares for, and who cares for him. They weren’t blood-related. But they all came together in hardship and strife. They stuck together through it all, and they remained together. Of course, there are people he wished were here, but he wouldn't change this for a second.

He feels a hand tighten around his. Turning his head, he sees Clover looking at him, eyes soft. 

Qrow kisses him. Their lips move together slowly. They aren’t in a hurry and don’t need the fast-paced make-out they had in the house. Still, though, the kiss is passionate. It’s something Qrow can’t wait to repeat.

They separate, foreheads leaning together.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” Qrow replies.

No, he thinks, he wouldn’t change this for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> honestly not too happy with this one, but some parts I do find cute. I hope Qrow realizes one day just how many people love him. This man deserves to be happy!!
> 
> also im in love with Clover's sister and mom. Might actually make them full OC's of mine.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! (comments make my day!)


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